[Today: Otis Rush has a bad case of the Chicago Blues...]
Recorded in San Francisco in 1971, Right Place, Wrong Time was inexplicably shelved by Capitol records for five years before Otis Rush finally self-released it. This was just another unpleasant twist in a recording career that saw him create a series of landmark recordings for the Cobra label between 1956 and 1958, only to stagnate over the next decade under a series of foundering labels and a host of poor management decisions. For example, during one five year period in the 60’s, his entire recorded output consisted of a single 45 – just two songs.
A musician’s musician, Rush has over time been accorded legendary bluesman status, and is generally acknowledged as a prime architect of the Chicago blues sound. His muscular guitar and assured singing mark his sound, which has a level of finish that escapes most blues records. Every note from Rush’s guitar hits its mark, like raindrops falling into a pond. He and his band don’t blast through their material – this isn’t breakneck, frantic, or wailing blues – so much as they saunter through it.
Right Place, Wrong Time is two sides of pure pleasure, without a nanosecond of filler or a single bum note. ‘Lonely Man’ hums with the purr and confidence of a guy who doesn’t expect to be lonely for long, ‘Take A Look Behind’ is a master blues guitar workout, and the title track is quite possibly the finest song that Rush has ever recorded. There are many other highlights here, waiting to be heard.
The album title could also serve as the name of his biography, but Otis Rush was able to overcome a career filled with bad breaks and create a number of underappreciated blues masterpieces. First and foremost among those is Right Place, Wrong Time.
Listen: Right Place, Wrong Time
[The P and I are jumping on a plane today and taking our traveling circus to The Windy City for a getaway. So expect more posts on Chicago artists, the blues, and possibly a write-up of my favorite Chicago record stores. Stay tuned...]
Tags: Blues, Chicago, Otis Rush, Right Place Wrong Time
9 November 2007 at 12:44 pm |
Well said. I’ve by no means heard them all, but this is my #1, all-time favorite electric blues record. I can never quite get enough of it. Another track your readers should hear is “Your Turn to Cry.” I love the way the music moves in unexpected directions.
13 October 2008 at 2:40 pm |
I was trawling through a stack of easy listening records at a boot sale
and found this brilliant vinyl.It’s a 1981 release on the French Blue Silver
label [ BS 3009 ]. The sleeve is silver with reasonably similar picture
and wording. It looks gorgeous and the music wow…. from “Tore up”
to “Take a look behind” Otis’s playing is beyond words he is truly great.
All I can say to you is “get yourself a copy ASAP”.